Although Mr. Hayward devoted much of his working life to BP, he left the company under a dark cloud, his three-year tenure as chief executive truncated when he took ultimate responsibility for the failures that led to the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Although some of his harsher critics might begrudge him the opportunity to begin anew with his Vallares venture, the greater sense detectable among industry analysts is one of anticipation and curiosity.